This luscious biscoff Italian meringue icing is a DREAM. I’m not usually a fan of eating icing, but I scoffed this down with zero regrets.
Usually the icing on cupcakes is painfully sweet, but the Italian meringue method of making buttercream makes the buttercream delightfully light and not too sweet. This is paired perfectly with the addictive biscoff flavour of the spread. Eating biscoff spread by itself might be tooth-achingly sweet, but it’s a perfect flavour for vanilla cupcakes.
Sometimes I double the recipe to make extra to put in the freezer. It’s an easy one to pull out. Just rest it at room temperature and whip until fluffy again. It may go through a stage of looking curdled and the oil separating, but trust me on this one – KEEP WHIPPING! It will turn out fine.
If you need an easy cupcake recipe try this soft and fluffy vanilla cupcake recipe. Or if you or your friends are gluten-free, you can still make a fluffy cupcake with this gluten-free mochi cupcake recipe. Instead of gluten-free flour, it uses glutinous rice flour and has a lovely soft texture.
Give this biscoff Italian meringue buttercream recipe a go! It elevates your basic cupcake. Tag your cupcake or cake creations with @ultimateomnoms on Instagram, I’d love to see it and give you a shoutout.

Biscoff Italian meringue buttercream
Ingredients
- 280 g castor sugar
- 115 ml water
- 4 eggs
- Pinch cream of tartar
- 340 g unsalted butter (room temperature)
- ½ cup biscoff spread
Instructions
- In a saucepan, mix half the sugar with the water over medium, stirring until the sugar dissolves
- As your sugar is heating to 110ºC, start to whip the egg whites with a pinch of cream of tartar.
- When the egg white starts to get frothy, slowly add the rest of the sugar in two batches to ensure the meringue doesn't deflate
- Keep heating the sugar syrup until it reaches 110ºC. By then the egg whites should reach stiff peaks
- With the mixer on high, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl of egg white meringue
- Keep whipping until it forms a stiff peak
- Feel the bottom of the bowl, wait if it is still hot. Change to the paddle attachment.
- Only when it feels slightly warm, start adding the butter cubes, one by one. Make sure
- Continue beating the buttercream until smooth – keep going even when it looks curdled. It’ll come together I promise!
- Once smooth, add the biscoff spread and keep beating until fully incorporated. The meringue icing will be luscious!